Is it time to stop pretending?

You can see interesting things in the most unexpected places …

I spent last weekend in Nagambie, Victoria – lucky me … a whole weekend with female friends (and met some new ones, too) and spending time pursuing one of my favourite pastimes: scrapbooking. (For those that are wondering ‘what’s that?’, it’s putting photos in albums with journaling about the people and events, and decorating the pages with colours and different kinds of enhancements. Personally, I find this very therapeutic and relaxing!)

We stayed at a well-run, well-equipped and very clean and comfortable motel. Though it was too cold for a dip, I did wander out to look at the pool – and found this quite out-of-place and obviously very fake palm tree, complete with plastic coconuts.

I certainly respect the fact that the owners were attempting to add some ‘ambience’ to the pool area … yet it got me thinking …

Why do human beings – and businesses – attempt to be something they’re not?

Why does a stay at home mum hesitate to say that she’s not in paid employment, and instead describes herself as a ‘home engineer’ or ‘’domestic manager’? (Mind you, I totally get why women don’t refer to themselves as ‘housewives’ – they’re not married to their houses!)

And why, in their promotional material, does a company refer to themselves as ‘Voted Australia’s #1 XYZ Company’? I mean, who voted? When was the poll? Why didn’t I get a ballot?

I see this so commonly in teams … people pretending all sorts of things …

Pretending they are happy with the boss’s latest decision, while openly complaining about it behind the boss’s back …

Pretending they know things they don’t …

Pretending they don’t know things that they do …

Pretending they don’t care whether they have input as to how they do their job, but secretly wanting more responsibility and autonomy …

Pretending ‘all is forgiven’, when they actually still harbor deep resentments and frustrations about events of the past …

It’s time to STOP pretending!

Only when people are open, honest and transparent can we truly have effective communication, true mutual respect & trust and the ability to work harmoniously together.

Yes – it might be scary. It won’t always be easy, and it certainly won’t be plain sailing each and every day.

But all this pretending is only creating more problems – or at best, sweeping things under a carpet that gets lumpier and bumpier to walk on every day.

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